The Whereabouts of Sabaku no Gaara
by Tears of Dragons
Summary: It was a mystery throughout the entire Sunagakure what their beloved Kazekage did at night. Of course, those who knew would hate to say that the truth was quite the disappointment. Sand siblings-centric. *Cover image not mine.


***Naruto owned by Masashi Kishimoto, not me.**

It was a mystery throughout the entire Sunagakure what Gaara did at night, both before and after Shukaku was extracted from him. Even after the Kazekage was finally allowed to sleep, he never seemed to do so. Many of his guards often said that he never once seemed to fall into slumber before they did, as embarrassing as it was.

There was also multiple times where the teen would disappear, too. It was uncountable on fingers the amount of times Baki, Temari, and Kankuro panicked with their missing Kazekage. He would always return by sunrise, but not a single person would _actually see_ him walk back into his quarters, or even the building in general. A shinobi would just walk into his office the next day, and see him sitting there, doing his paperwork, fully dressed. Another uproar would start, but for a dramatically different reason.

The whereabouts of Gaara, becoming one of the most unsolvable mysteries, was great enough to even make the people of Suna once start a bet to see who could crack what exactly their beloved leader was doing at night.

That had happily ended in utter failure, with everyone exhausted from looking for Gaara, and no one having even seen his shadow until the next morning rolled around.

Gaara's "lost hours" were such a dilemma that even Gaara's closest family and friends started having wild guesses for his disappearances, since he never slept at his humble home with his siblings. Temari thought that he was seeing a woman. Kankuro thought that it was simply a matter of pride, and that he just didn't want anyone to see him sleeping. Regardless, the matter stayed unanswered.

For a long a time, no one ever knew where Gaara was during the night. It was such an impossible task to find the answer that even the most curious of the villagers left the matter unsolved. It gave many shinobi a headache, and countless had asked the redhead (including his own very siblings) what he did.

Of course, who was Gaara not to answer poetically?

The Kazekage would only smile (goodness, the squeals of the girls around when he did that,) and say,

"It is nothing to concern yourself about. I'm sure if I told you you would all definitely be disappointed."

And he would leave the dumbfounded shinobi behind, returning to his duties. His answer, on the other hand, only raised more suspicions.

"I _swear_ on the name of our dad that Gaara's seeing a girl." Temari said, slamming her fist on the dining table.

"Nah. I doubt it. Gaara, seeing a girl? Impossible. He's straight-laced. He's probably just sleeping in a valley somewhere. His ego's pretty big, you know." Kankuro crossed his arms. "You heard him say anyway. That it would be a disappointment if he told you."

Temari scoffed. "He just did that to make our curiosity grow."

Baki sighed. "Well, whatever he's doing, he's worrying the council members sick. The amount of times that they kept asking me to tell them what he's doing, or if he's getting enough sleep is driving me nuts."

"So the gramps are doting on him? They were just criticizing his becoming kage a good year before." Kankuro said, wiping the sand off of his puppet.

"Lord Gaara's proved himself more than enough." Baki pinched his nose. "Which is why we need to get to the end of this soon. We can't just let our leader out of sight for the night especially."

Both Temari and Kankuro nodded in response.

And so begun the longest night of their lives.

It started simply, with Gaara staying behind to finish up paperwork after Temari and Kankuro left. Of course, this time, the two didn't leave, instead, hid themselves, and watched their youngest brother from outside.

They waited, watching in silence, as Gaara, seemingly sure that they had left, slowly peeled off his kage robes. He was left in his battle gear, and Kankuro tensed. If Gaara was going to fight, then this would not end well. Temari, seeing him tense up, placed a hand on him, signaling to simply stay watch first.

Gaara, after neatly folding the robes, swung his gourd over his back. This time, even Temari felt the need to stop the kage. That was, until, Gaara yawned. Both of their jaws dropped at that. Not once, not ever in their years of knowing him, did they see Gaara actually _yawn_.

Slowly Gaara moved his sand, so that he sat perfectly balanced on it. It was a slow process, and the sand swirled around him, keeping him invisible.

Giving a nervous glance to each other, they instantly followed the little chakra that Gaara trailed behind.

Oh, how much Temari prayed for byakugan right at this moment.

They followed him, for almost twenty minutes straight, more often than not almost losing his presence. Gaara lead them to a rather familiar place, and when Kankuro and Temari saw the building, they almost laughed at it.

Gaara unveiled himself when he reached the building's door, and spun around to stare straight at his followers.

"Might you join me, Elder Sister, Elder Brother? You seemed awfully interested," He said, his words honeyed with mockery, as though he just caught his prey in a perfect trap.

"Errr...ok," The two of them hand no idea of responding, since it was the first time that Gaara ever spoke with such sarcasm, and not a deadpan voice.

The three entered the building, with Gaara taking the lead, and were met by a familiar person.

"Oh, Gaara! You brought your siblings with you today. So they've come to join us for tea as well?" Ebizo said, his voice filled with mischief, though cracked with age.

Temari raised a confused eyebrow. "Shouldn't you...be sleeping, Lord Elder? And Gaara, you too…?"

The two in question both smiled.

"How could we? There's much to hear from Elder Ebizo. Sunagakure's secrets are all here,"

Ebizo laughed as well. "It's been so long since a youngster like Gaara would even listen to my tales or even have tea with me. I've been lonely without sis, you know."

"So wouldn't you join us tonight?"

Temari threw her face in her palm for even trying to find out Gaara's secret. Kankuro only sighed through the entire time that they listened to the quiet, elderly conversation between Gaara and Ebizo. Both of them just simply couldn't believe that Gaara was only sixteen, because he most certainly _did not_ act, nor speak like one that night.

The two jonin only sighed to each other, and reminded themselves not to spread Gaara's secret. After all, they doubted anyone would see the Kazekage the same way if they found out that he acted like an eighty-year-old geezer at night.


End file.
